Tri-C and Ohio State are among 10 institutions to receive money from the Gates Foundation to determine whether massive online open courses can be adapted for developmental and introductory courses.Plain Dealer file

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga Community College has received a nearly $50,000 grant to develop and offer free online remedial math courses.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded grants to 10 institutions, including Tri-C and Ohio State University, to determine whether massive open online courses, known as MOOCs, can be adapted for developmental and introductory courses.

Most of the noncredit courses in the fledgling MOOC movement now are aimed at upper-level courses and are offered by four-year institutions.

Sandy Robinson, Tri-C's vice president of academic affairs, said in a news release that, "Our goal in designing the Developmental Mathematics MOOC is to leverage the college's experience in subject matter and online learning to expedite the transition into mainstream college coursework for massive numbers of students."

Ninety-three percent of new Tri-C students take one or more remedial math classes to prepare for college-level work, according to officials.

Students in those developmental courses receive no credit for the classes, but must pay to take them. Research has shown that students in remedial courses can become discouraged, derailing their plans for a degree.

Only one in four students in remedial classes earns a degree from a community college or transfers to a four-year college, according to studies.

Tri-C plans to target multiple audiences with its MOOC -- from first-generation college students, to those seeking retraining after years in the workforce and high school students looking ahead to college.

Also receiving grants from the Gates Foundation were Duke University, Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Michigan State University, Mt. San Jacinto College, the University of California – Berkeley, the University of Washington Foundation, the University of Wisconsin and Wake Technical Community College.

The MOOCs must be made publicly accessible and free for five years. The institutions must place courses online that will be completed by June 2013 and provide data for researchers to study how different students learn.

The Gates Foundation said in its request for proposals that it wants to see which students benefit most from MOOCs and which kinds of courses translate best to that format.

"Ultimately, our vision is that MOOCs may provide institutions a way to blend MOOC content into formal courses with more intensive faculty, advising and peer support and also provide students an alternative and direct path to credit and credentials," the foundation said in its request for proposals.

Grant-winners also must work with an established MOOC platform that has previously hosted courses taken by at least tens of thousands of students, according to the announcement.

The foundation sought proposals for courses that would help at least three types of students – those already enrolled in a remedial class who would use the MOOC as a study aid, those who use a MOOC in conjunction with a remedial class and those who enroll solely in a MOOC.

The largest MOOC provider is Coursera. Ohio State announced in September that it would offer two courses -- in pharmacy and substance abuse -- through that firm.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley formed edX. Other companies are Udacity, founded by a Stanford University computer science professor; Udemy, which allows anyone to set up an online course; and Khan Academy, which offers more than 3,400 videos geared toward elementary and secondary students.

The MOOC movement is so new that educators are unsure how it will affect traditional higher education. The online classes generally have little faculty involvement. Students watch lectures and complete assignments that are often graded by machines or students.

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